


Newly Bound

by Manetherendrelle (EndlessGloaming)



Category: Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Genre: Gen, Post-AMoL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:20:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27197059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndlessGloaming/pseuds/Manetherendrelle
Summary: While wandering in the World of Dreams, Rand sees a face he thought he'd never see again.This is what I'd like to believe happened to Egwene after the Last Battle.
Relationships: Rand al'Thor & Egwene al'Vere
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	Newly Bound

Once Rand learned that Perrin could shift in and out of Tel'aran'rhiod at will, he could do it as well. Rand had no idea how it worked for Perrin, but knowing it was possible was enough - it wasn't quite creating a gateway, and it wasn't quite entering through a dream as a true Dreamer might. It was, if anything, closer to how Traveling worked with the True Power - which was odd, as Rand had never done that, at least in any life he remembered - and yet he knew. At any rate, he could enter the World of Dreams, and now he could visit places just to see them, rather than reconnoitering them to formulate military tactics.

Sentiment took him to the Two Rivers, to the bustling town that Emond's Field had become. It would be possible for him to visit in the waking world. Word was, more than enough outlanders had wound up there as refugees, Rand wouldn't stand out in his new body. Tam, Perrin, and Faile knew who he was, but he could rely on them to help him go without attracting attention.

He leaned against the outer wall of the Winespring Inn, simply listening to the Winespring Water rush from the ground, when something almost knocked him over.

"Rand!"

An abstract sense of familiarity only narrowly stopped him from reacting with quick violence to escape the arms around him, but he was glad he didn't lash out.

"Egwene!"

He embraced her back, laughing, tears in his eyes. His mind flashed to the horror he'd felt watching her die through the strange view he had from Shayol Ghul, and he squeezed her tighter. Light, _Egwene_.

He was reluctant to let her go, but he pulled her away just enough to get a good look at her face. She had the maturity and gravity of the last time he'd seen her, as the Amyrlin Seat, yet also the carefree joy of when they'd been youths in Emond's Field.

Egwene's smile lit her whole face. "I'm so glad I found you! For all the time I spent in Tel'aran'rhiod while I was alive, I never knew a good way of finding people - maybe there isn't one. I can't imagine how confusing this all might have been if not for that, and for meeting Birgitte. I've run into a few other Heroes of the Horn while I've been here--"

" _Other_ Heroes of the Horn? So you've been bound to the Wheel? Egwene, that's wonderful! Congratulations!"

She smiled. "Do you know much about how this works?"

Rand shook his head.

Egwene wrinkled her nose in a way he didn't recall her doing since childhood. "I suppose you're bound to the Wheel in your own special way, aren't you? I guess they've told you even less than they've told me. It seems like everyone else mostly keeps to themselves, though I still don't really understand why. I've run into a few. Hawkwing, but he's strange and it's hard to get information out of him. He said Mat ought to get bound to the Wheel too. Jain Farstrider found me and explained some of this, at least a little more than I heard from Birgitte, but he's new here too." The words rushed out of her. She stopped herself and took a deep breath. "Anyway, I'm glad you're here. I keep looking for Gawyn, but...." She trailed off, sadness falling over her face.

Rand still held to her shoulders and squeezed them at that. His other questions about what she'd said could wait. "I heard what happened to Gawyn. Have you gotten to talk with Elayne? She's been hurting over his loss too. More than I think she wants to admit to me, but maybe the two of you could comfort each other."

Egwene's eyes widened. "You talked with Elayne?"

Rand shrugged, finally letting his hands drop. "I couldn't stand to stay away. I had to meet my own children. I'm living in the palace with Elayne acting as her Warder. Just some Borderlander, as far as most everyone is concerned." He paused, looking down at his own hands - how he thought of his own hands, the original ones, both of them, with no herons and no dragons. "Right. I have a different face now. You wouldn't know that. Anyway, it works out well enough - few people know who I am, and as far as I'm aware, only Cadsuane has recognized me without being told."

Egwene's hand went to her mouth. "Wait, you're still alive? Oh, Light, I shouldn't be talking with you."

Rand's eyebrows drew together. "What do you mean, you shouldn't be talking with me?

Backing away from him, she said, "We're not supposed to talk with the living." She shook her head. "Rand, all the prophesies said you'd die fighting the Dark One. How is it you didn't?"

"The prophesies only spoke of my blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul, and there was plenty of that. Light, I almost slipped on it a few times." Rand's usual reticence to explain his strange survival gave way to his desire to share with this woman who was the closest thing he had to a sister. Not everything - he still wasn't ready to talk about what happened outside the Pattern, or really any of when he was directly fighting the Dark One - but enough, and he showed her how he looked now.

Egwene took it more calmly than the few others he'd told. "Oh, Rand, I'm happy for you - but I shouldn't see you again. And please don't tell anyone that you met me here." She paused. "Except maybe Elayne. She already had Birgitte as a Warder; I can't imagine any harm from her hearing about me."

"Nynaeve knew about Birgitte too, from what I've heard. You know how happy she'd be to find out you're here."

"Nynaeve did meet Birgitte while she was here too." Egwene pressed her lips together and nodded sharply. "Yes, tell Nynaeve about me." Her shoulders slumped. "Light, Rand, I don't want to leave my friends in pain, but I also don't want to break the rules for this amazing thing I've just been brought into."

"I think I understand," Rand said.

"I guess you would. You're hiding too, not letting people know who you are. But that is your choice." Her voice grew harder toward the end.

"Yes and no. Think what would happen to the countries that swore to me. Or the Dragon's Peace - I made all those rulers sign it in exchange for my life. What does it mean to that treaty if I didn't die?" It felt like he was making excuses, even if the reasons were true, and more important than his friends' feelings.

"You're right. I should have thought of that." Egwene pulled in a deep breath. "Anyway, I'll find out more as I can, and if I can visit any of you, I will - though I'm not sure how. Maybe I can figure that out too."

Rand's chest felt tight. He wanted to keep her talking, keep her here, spend more time with her, but she was right; it wouldn't do to cause her trouble here. "All right. It's hard to think I won't see you again, even if I did think you dead until a few minutes ago."

Egwene threw her arms around him again. "Give Elayne and Nynaeve hugs from me."

Rand clung to her desperately, not imagining how he was going to let go. He could barely choke out his reply. "I will."

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a chapter of a longer post-AMoL fic, but it's not essential to that piece, and it stands on its own, so I figured it might as well get posted on its own while I work on the longer fic.


End file.
